


Keep Your Friends Close, But Your Roommate Closer

by baridalive



Series: 12 Days of Donghyuck [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Best Friends, Christmas, Cute, Finding Love, Love, M/M, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-18 06:33:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16989843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baridalive/pseuds/baridalive
Summary: In which a request is made and the state of a friendship is questioned_____Days 1 and 2 of Donghyuck's quest to find love before Christmas





	1. Day 1

 

**Sunday, December 14th**

_ 8 Days Until Departure _

_ 10 Days Until the Christmas Eve Party _

**11 Days Until Christmas**

* * *

 

 

**“Hey, mom,” Donghyuck began, taking** a deep breath. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it back home for the holidays.” He tapped his pencil on his desk as he spun his desk chair in semicircles, waiting for the inevitability of his mother trying to convince him to take a flight back home to Jeju for Christmas.

 

There was a clear silence on the other end of the line for a moment before a sigh made its way through the phone. Donghyuck could feel the disappointment positively  _ radiating _ off of his mother, even with her being about three hundred miles away in Jeju and Donghyuck sitting in his bedroom of his shared apartment in Seoul. 

 

“Look, my workload is insane here, and I have to focus on staying in shape for nationals, not to mention the choir rehearsals I’m bound to miss if I go.” Donghyuck rushed to defend his decision. He’d gone back and forth about this for weeks until he finally decided that it was best if he just stayed at university for Christmas break.

 

“Lee Donghyuck,” When his mother’s voice finally sounded, Donghyuck knew he was about to get an earful. “Your brother is engaged and you need to come home to see them, not to mention that your father and haven’t seen hide nor hair of you in almost a year since you came home for last Christmas.” As soon as Johnny’s engagement was mentioned, Donghyuck knew it was over for him. “And I hope you didn’t forget that one of the conditions of us letting you study dance abroad in America for the summer was that we’d get to see you more often after that.”

 

“So I guess I’m coming home for the holidays then?” Donghyuck closed his eyes, rubbing his temples. 

 

“We’ll pay for your flight if you promise to make it back, okay, Duckie?” His mother’s voice was significantly softer all of a sudden. “We miss you, sweetie. You’re so far away all the way over at college, and we couldn’t be more proud of you for getting into Seoul University for Performing Arts, but over these past three years we’ve just gotten to see less and less of you.”

 

“I’m really sorry, mom. It’s just a lot of work and constant practicing, and it’s hard to pull myself away and take a break, you know?”

 

“You’re so much like your father,” Donghyuck’s mother laughed. “He misses you and wanted me to say hello for him. He’s off at the shop again. Something about a custom lamborghini and a malfunctioning seat heater.”

 

Donghyuck chuckled, still tired but a little more genuine. “Of course he is.”

 

“I don’t know how you and Johnny came to be. Two musicians born from a mechanic and lawyer,” His mother sighed. “It baffles me to this day, but we couldn’t be more proud of you two.”

“I know, mom. Is there anything you want me to bring you back from Seoul?” Donghyuck asked, thinking that his mother would ask for a box of chocolates from her favorite candy store or something along those lines. 

 

“Yes. It’s high time you bring home one of those cute college boys you keep telling us about.”

 

“ _ Mother _ !”

 

“Duckie, I’m serious. You’re a junior in college and your brother is engaged. I think you can put it upon yourself to bring home a date to the annual Christmas Eve party.”

 

“Jaehyun and I aren’t a thing anymore, you know that.”

 

“Doesn’t matter. I expect you back home with a date and presents for the family. I’ll send you the information for the plane ticket.” There was a note of finality in her tone that told Donghyuck there was no amount of arguing that could change her mind. 

 

“Okay, mom. I’ll see you soon and I love you.” Donghyuck said, resigned to the fact that he was going to have to find a date in less than twelve days to meet his entire family.

 

“Love you too Duckie. Take care!” His mother ended the call with cheerful words that did nothing to improve Donghyuck’s mood. He stared at the call screen on his phone for a moment before groaning and letting his head fall onto the desk with a satisfying  _ thunk _ .

 

“That sounded like it hurt.” Donghyuck heard an equally cheerful voice pipe up from the doorway and resisted the overwhelming temptation to throw his music history textbook at his roommate. “What happened with your mom?”

 

“Nothing good, Jaemin. Nothing good.” Donghyuck lifted his head up from the desk and peered across the room to where his pink-haired friend was leaning against the doorframe, looking over at Donghyuck with eyes full of concern.

 

“What do you mean? Did something happen? Is she okay?”

 

“No, no! Nothing like that, jeez. It’s just—” Donghyuck cut himself off to play with the hem on the sleeve of his sweater. “It’s just that my mom is making me come home for Christmas after all.”

 

Jaemin frowned. “That’s not  _ that _ bad, is it?”

 

“Nah, that’s not that bad part. She’s emotionally blackmailing me into bringing a date back home for the annual Christmas Eve party.” Donghyuck sank down into his chair in defeat.

 

“Ah,” Jaemin crossed his arms and tilted his head in thought. “I suddenly see your point. Have you dated at all since Jaehyun—”

 

“No.”

 

“How long ago was that?”

 

“Nine months, give or take.” Donghyuck responded, his words muffled by the collar of his sweater that he’d sunk down into. Jaemin let out a low whistle before carefully mulling over his next words.

 

“Okay… but maybe this is for the best, though?”

 

“Jaemin!” Donghyuck shot up. “I thought you were on my side!” He whined, but his roommate just waved him off.

 

“You’ve been nonstop working and practicing since you and Jaehyun called it quits, and it hasn’t been healthy for you. Maybe this is a good chance to get back out there.”

 

Donghyuck’s jaw was on the floor. “You’ve  _ got _ to be kidding me, Jaem. Please tell me you’re kidding. This is a terrible idea!”

 

Jaemin shook his head, a grin spreading on his face. “No, no, this is a great idea. It’s the last week before break, so you have… how many days until your flight back to Jeju?”

 

A small  _ ping _ from Donghyuck’s computer drew his attention from Jaemin, signaling that there was a new email in his inbox. It was a plane ticket from Seoul to Jeju on the afternoon of December twenty-second, sent by his mother.

 

“I have eight days, not counting today.”

 

“Okay, so you have eight days until the you leave, ten until the party, and eleven until Christmas itself, if I’m doing my math right.” Jaemin counted off the days on his fingers, looking up at the ceiling has he numbered them off. “I think you can handle this.”

 

“It’s not a question of whether or not I  _ can _ handle it so much as whether or not I  _ want _ to handle it.” 

 

“But where are you going to get a date? Hyuck, you have a bit of a reputation here.”

 

“You have zero faith in me.” Donghyuck accused the pink-haired boy, pointing at him. Jaemin just laughed before turning around and walking back to his own room.

 

“I know.” He called over his shoulder, throwing an air kiss back to a mildly irked Donghyuck.

 

Donghyuck spent the rest of the evening trying to turn his attention back to his music history paper that’s due at midnight and keep his mind off of the date situation, but to little success. Every time Donghyuck forgot about it in favor of drowning himself in the names of old Italian composers who he couldn’t care less about, the thought jumped back to the forefront of his mind.

 

His worrying got to the point where it was eleven-thirty, his paper got turned in a half an hour ago, and he was lying in bed, restless as ever. Donghyuck closed his eyes, thinking that maybe if the third try wasn’t the charm, maybe the one hundred and third would be.

 

He was wrong.

 

At eleven forty-five, Donghyuck finally quit trying to sleep because he knew it wasn’t going to happen if he couldn’t set his mind at peace. So he was left with two options: either stay in his bed and continue to not get any sleep, or he could get up and move around to hopefully tire himself out.

 

Donghyuck selected the latter, pushing the blankets off of him and padding out the door of his bedroom and down the hall to the little kitchen by the living room. He pulled a mug out of the cabinet and turned to grab a tea bag, but was startled out of his task when he caught sight of Jaemin on the couch, reading a book with a small lamp on beside him, glasses reflecting the printed words and the warm light.

 

“Jaem?” Donghyuck grimaced at how the word was croaked out. “Why are you still up?” Jaemin turned to Donghyuck, apparently equally as surprised to see his roommate up and about at this hour since they both knew they value their sleep more than most anything else.

 

“Oh, I, uh, I forgot to finish the biography of John Coltrane I’m supposed to have done before tomorrow, and it’s not on SparkNotes.” Jaemin sighed, running a hand through his already messy pink hair for what Donghyuck was sure had been the hundredth time that night given the state of his locks. Jaemin shot Donghyuck a smile that’s so tired, he wasn’t sure how to respond. “What are you doing up?”

 

Donghyuck shuffled his socked feet on the carpet, wiggling his toes in the fuzzy warmth. “I dunno. Just can’t sleep, I guess.”

 

But Jaemin saw right past that lie. He sat upright on the couch and set his book down, patting the cushion beside him for Donghyuck to sit down on. “Is this about that talk you had with your mom? I didn’t know it was bothering you this much.”

 

Donghyuck dragged himself to Jaemin and plopped himself down on the couch in a heap, tucking himself into the younger’s side. Donghyuck could almost hear Jaemin’s small smile as he wrapped an arm around the older and began running his fingers through Donghyuck’s hair with his free hand. “Yeah,” Donghyuck whispered at the comforting sensation of his friend’s touch. “I think it is.”

 

Jaemin’s fingers tapped on his arm with clear dissatisfaction, his chest decompressed with a slow exhale. “This shouldn’t be worrying you that much. Is there some other piece to this that I don’t know about?” Jaemin asked so quietly Donghyuck thought it was rhetorical until he looked down at the boy curled into a ball at his side.

 

Donghyuck shook his head without missing a beat, but a moment later nodded slowly, closing his eyes. “If I go home with a date, that means they have to meet my family, right? So I don’t want to bring someone who is, or might be, just a fling because my entire family will never let me live that down. I need to bring a date, a  _ real  _ date, or I will forever be cursed with my parents concern about my terrifying lack of a love life.”

 

“I think you’re being a little melodramatic here,” Jaemin breathed out a laugh. “But if it’s that much of a concern to you, I can go. As a date, I mean. If you’re interested.” Donghyuck’s eyes shot open.

 

“You’d do that?” He twisted his body so his head was on Jaemin’s shoulder, looking up with wide eyes.

 

Jaemin nodded. “If we get to the end of these nine days and you still don’t have a date, I’ll go with you. Sound good?”

 

Donghyuck was a half of a second from jumping to say yes, but a realization stopped him. “But don’t you have your own plans?”

 

“Nah,” Jaemin snorted. “My parents are going off to England to visit my sister for all of break, so I’d just be here on my own anyway.” Donghyuck took a second to think it through before smiling so widely his eyes almost closed. 

 

“It’s a deal.”

 

Jaemin tightened his arm around Donghyuck, grinning. “Have your stress levels stopped trying exit the stratosphere yet?” Donghyuck flashed him a soft smile.

 

“No, I still have two midterms this week, but it helped.” He snuggled further into Jaemin. “I promise it did.” Jaemin continued to run his fingers through Donghyuck’s hair, massaging his scalp with a welcomed gentleness that soothed his nerves.

 

“Good, now get some sleep.” Jaemin instructed, but it wasn’t a sign to leave. Jaemin never untangled himself from Donghyuck or moved away, but rather, leaned a little to the side to grab a blanket that he draped over the both of them. He removed his arm from around Donghyuck to grab his book again, but never took away the one from his hair.

 

Donghyuck burrowed himself in the blanket, mumbling a half-audible “thank you” to Jaemin as the younger pressed a kiss to the top of Donghyuck’s head. The two had always been very physical in showing their affection to one another, especially given their flirty natures, but had never been anything more than friends—despite the rumors.

 

As Donghyuck closed his eyes once more, his body tucked gently into Jaemin’s, he wondered what it would be like to have Jaemin as more than just a friend.


	2. Day 2

**Monday, December 15th**

_7 Days Until Departure_

_9 Days Until the Christmas Eve Party_

**10 Days Until Christmas**

* * *

 

 **Donghyuck awoke the next morning** to find himself buried under three more blankets than he fell asleep with, but was sorely lacking in pink-haired human pillows and gentle fingers carding through his hair. He stretched his arms above his head before quickly retracting them back into his warm cocoon.

 

Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, Donghyuck slowly remembered that Jaemin had an eight o’clock advanced music theory class on Monday mornings and internally cursed Jaemin’s affinity for early classes and taking the afternoon to relax because as much as Donghyuck was a morning person, their schedules never matched. Most of Donghyuck’s classes, along with his choir and dance rehearsals, were in the afternoon and evening, leaving him to sleep in most mornings while Jaemin was at class and then be out of the apartment when Jaemin came back.

 

It wasn’t strange for the two to not see each other for days at a time when Jaemin went to bed early and Donghyuck slept in late when their schedules were more hectic than usual, but they made a point to hang out on weekends and catch up so as to not lose their close bond that they had had since they got randomly placed together as dorm partners in their freshman year at university.

 

Donghyuck bundled himself up in the blankets and shuffled his way into the kitchen, where he was met with a stack of pancakes on a plate with plastic wrap over them. There was a little blue post-it note to the side that had a scribble of a smiley face on it with a heart, leaving Donghyuck to know that it was a small gift from Jaemin’s early morning cooking adventures.

 

It still stunned Donghyuck how he managed to sleep through all of that—it’s not exactly as thought Jaemin is a quiet person—but he wasn’t in a position to argue because he got both sleep and pancakes out of the deal.

 

The blue note smiled up at him with the same brightness of Jaemin’s grin, suddenly bringing Donghyuck’s last thoughts of the previous night back to him, almost knocking the breath right from his lungs.

 

How _would_ things be different if they were more than friends? Is there any way he already felt that way about Jaemin? Did their seemingly friendly touches actually mean something more? Donghyuck felt the world spin as those thoughts ran rampant in his head. But his daydream quickly ceased when Donghyuck caught a glimpse of the clock. He had no time for romance with a class in less than an hour that took place most of the way across campus.

 

Donghyuck hurried around the apartment, getting ready and collecting his things, but a smile never left his face because every time he passed either the kitchen or Jaemin’s room, he’d be reminded of the little blue post-it that made his heart go all mushy.

 

Even as he took his midterm for Sports Medicine III, and sat through another lecture from Professor Kim in Music History, Donghyuck couldn’t manage to get Jaemin off his mind, no matter how much Donghyuck was unsure about the entire multiple choice section or how many weird looks he received from Professor Kim because of his sunny expression throughout a lecture on the deaths of great composers.

 

Donghyuck raced back to the apartment as fast as he could, throwing the door open and taking his shoes off in one motion before nearly jumping onto Jaemin, who had been relaxing on the couch reading a different book from the previous night prior to suddenly having his book replaced with a slightly-out-of-breath redhead.

 

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” Jaemin groaned from beneath Donghyuck, trying—albeit failing, but still trying—to push the older off of him. “I thought you hated Professor Kim.”

 

“Oh, I still do, don’t worry,” Donghyuck squeezed Jaemin’s sides, making him squirm. “Do you wanna go see a movie or something tonight? I need something to do.” The sun was just beginning to set on that Monday evening as they spoke, meaning half-priced movie night for the university students would begin soon.

 

“Only if it’s my pick.” Jaemin relents, stopping his struggle against his relentless roommate.

 

“Deal!” Donghyuck hopped off of Jaemin with a smile. “Go on and get ready! We’ll leave in a half an hour!” He then skipped off to him room, leaving a somewhat flustered and incredulous Jaemin lying on the couch.

 

Donghyuck closed his door and leaned against it, taking in a deep breath before rushing to get ready, knowing he’d need every second of those thirty minutes to get everything done he wanted to. If Donghyuck were to be perfectly honest, he wasn’t even sure that Jaemin would have said yes to going out tonight with Jaemin having a midterm and himself having an eight am art class the next day, but he wasn’t going to point either of those out since he already had gotten this far.

 

Being an accomplished dancer gave Donghyuck a great figure that he wasn’t afraid to flaunt, so he chose ripped skinny jeans that showed off the curves of his hips and thighs, and his black Nirvana t-shirt and denim jacket were the most obvious pairing to go along with the jeans.

 

It was at times like this that Donghyuck thanked whatever god was out there that he was a dancer, because it gave him an amazing sense of fashion, and made him relatively well-versed in the realm of makeup. He knew his way around the products because he had to glitz himself up in costumes and makeup for competitions all the time.

 

Concealer for under his eyes to hide how late he’d been staying up as of late, some rose-gold shadow for his lids, a dash of golden highlight on his cheekbones along with the customary eyeliner and swipe of lipgloss—the makeup he chose was light but enhanced his features beautifully.

 

Only twenty minutes had passed, yet Donghyuck was as ready as he was going to get, but something stopped him, his hand resting on the handle of his bedroom door. What if Jaemin didn’t actually mean anything by what he said last night and everything was still strictly platonic and it was just Donghyuck’s imagination and hormones running wild with the knowledge that he was short on time?

 

Donghyuck didn’t give himself any time to dwell on those thoughts, turning the handle and nearly falling straight into Jaemin who had his hand raised as if he was about to knock on the door to come collect Donghyuck himself.

 

“Oh! You’re ready!” Jaemin’s eyes widened as he looked at Donghyuck.

 

“And you’re gorgeous,” Donghyuck laughed, looking his roommate up and down. Jaemin was dressed a white dress shirt, half tucked into ripped jeans of his own that hugged his lean figure, and Doc Martens and a single silver earring that polished off the more formal feel of Jaemin’s outfit.

 

“Says you! Just look at yourself!” Jaemin placed his hands on Donghyuck’s shoulders, spinning him around. “You going to wear your Vans with that?” Donghyuck nodded, grabbing his phone and wallet from the table by the door before ducking under Jaemin’s arm to make his way to where his shoes were.

 

“Yeah what other shoes do I ever wear?” He shot back over his shoulder as he slipped on the worn checkered Vans that had been lying in the doorway where he’d tossed them before leaping onto Jaemin when he entered the apartment not too much earlier.

 

“So… we ready to go?” Jaemin asked, looking uncharacteristically nervous. He scuffed the toe of his boot on the ground, playing with his thumbs, eyes darting around anywhere but looking at Donghyuck.

 

“Yup!” Donghyuck smiled, which seemed to calm Jaemin down a little bit. “You gonna tell me what movie we’re watching?” Jaemin grinned, shaking his head as he led Donghyuck out the door of their apartment, locking it behind them.

 

“Nope. You’re not going to know until we get there.”

 

Donghyuck pouted, before perking up when he came up with an idea. “Will you tell me if I guess?”

 

Jaemin hummed thoughtfully before responding with a simple, “Maybe,”

 

The rest of the walk to the cinema was spent by Donghyuck eagerly trying to guess which movie Jaemin had in mind for them that night, and getting nothing more than laughter and “no”’s and “Donghyuck, that hasn’t been in theaters for nine months” in response. He finally figured out what Jaemin was planning when he spoke to the person in the ticket booth.

 

“Two tickets for _IT_ , please.” The smile was audible in his voice as he slid a ten dollar bill to the teller.

 

“ _Jaem_!” Donghyuck whined, hitting Jaemin’s arm. “You know I hate horror movies!”

 

“But they’re playing the original 1990 version of _IT_! That’s not an opportunity I can just pass up!” Jaemin explained, taking the tickets from the teller and leading them inside the theater lobby.

 

“But it’s one that I sure as hell can!” Donghyuck complained. Jaemin turned around, placing his hands on either side of Donghyuck’s face, cupping his cheeks.

 

“I promise I won’t do it again, but can you promise to at least _try_ and enjoy this?” He sighed, leaning their faces close together. Donghyuck nodded numbly, smelling the mint on Jaemin’s breath as it fanned over his face, ruffling his hair. “Good, now no movie is any good without food!” Jaemin jerked away, grabbing Donghyuck by the arm and dragging him over to the concessions.

 

It was only as Jaemin was ordering two large popcorns, drinks, and boxes of their favorite sweets that Donghyuck realized he hadn’t spent a penny yet this evening even though he was the one who had commanded that Jaemin went out with him.

 

“Hey, Jaem, you know I can pay for that?”

 

Jaemin shook his head, sliding some bills across the counter to the worker behind it. “It’s okay, I just got a paycheck.”

 

“You don’t have a job.” Donghyuck pointed out Jaemin's blatant lie, rocking back on his heels.

 

“Just shut up and let me treat you.” Jaemin nudged Donghyuck with his shoulder. “Now help me bring all of this to the theater.” The two—miraculously—managed to make it to their seats without spilling any more than two or three kernels of the popcorn off the top of the bags.

 

Even then, it didn’t matter because three-fourths of the popcorn was gone before the previews were done, the drink cups lay long-forgotten and empty in the cupholders of the seats next to them with the empty boxes of candy stuffed inside. Donghyuck knew he’d have to work all of that off tomorrow to make sure he didn’t get out of shape at all, but now wasn’t the time to worry about that.

 

The movie had started five minutes ago, and Donghyuck had already remembered why he hated horror movies so much. He was halfway over the armrest between their seats, clinging onto Jaemin with white knuckles with his head buried securely in Jaemin’s chest.

 

“You okay?” Jaemin leaned down to whisper in Donghyuck’s ear, earning himself a small pinch on the arm.

 

“No,” Donghyuck whimpered. “I told you I hate horror movies!”

 

“But Hyuck,” Jaemin ruffled his hair. “You’re so adorable when you’re scared. Not so big and bad now, are you?”

 

“Shut up.” Donghyuck retracted himself from Jaemin, suddenly very thankful that the theater was dark so no one could see his face heating up as he curled in on himself in his own seat, hugging his knees to his chest.

 

“Oh you big baby. C’mere.” Jaemin reached over, scooping Donghyuck up and bringing him into his lap. Donghyuck leaned back into Jaemin, letting the younger wrap his arms around his own torso in comfort.

 

The rest of the movie went relatively smoothly aside from Donghyuck either squeaking or jumping whenever Pennywise came on the screen, and Jaemin just let Donghyuck bury his face in his neck whenever something particularly terrifying happened, just rubbing the older’s back until the scene was over—granted, that was a solid two hours of the movie, but neither of them shifted away or complained.

 

After the more-than-three hours of the movie were over, Donghyuck couldn’t tell where parts of him ended and where Jaemin started because of how tangled up they were. It took five minutes worth of concentrated near-silence for them to detach themselves from each other.

 

There weren’t any words exchanged between the two when they found themselves holding hands, and Donghyuck wouldn’t have changed that if they didn’t have to pick up their garbage and throw it all away, which required all of the hands they could get.

 

The moment the trash was thrown away in the garbage can outside the theater, Donghyuck reached for Jaemin’s hand again, carefully lacing their fingers together and watching the other out of the corner of his eye to see his reaction. Jaemin just smiled and pulled Donghyuck a little closer to his side, and they walked all the way back to their apartment like that.

 

Donghyuck puffed out a little breath as they entered the complex together, still hand in hand, and stifled a laugh as Jaemin struggled to fish his apartment key out of his pocket and unlock the door all with the one hand that wasn’t being occupied by Donghyuck’s.

 

All laughter left him when Jaemin tugged him inside the apartment, though. Donghyuck found himself pinned to a wall, standing chest to chest with Jaemin, who shut the door behind them with the back of his heel, leaving the two of them in the complete silence of their apartment. He was worried it was so quiet that Jaemin could hear all of the loud thoughts running through his head at a million miles a minute.

 

Jaemin brought a finger up to hook it under Donghyuck’s chin, tilting it up to look at him. Donghyuck audibly gulped as Jaemin ran this thumb over his full bottom lip, peeking up at the younger through his lashes.

 

“Jaem—” Donghyuck started, but Jaemin ducked down and swallowed the name, capturing the older’s lips with his own. Donghyuck inhaled sharply, grasping for purchase on Jaemin’s shoulders before pulling him closer.

 

Jaemin’s hands found their way to Donghyuck’s hips, untucking his t-shirt and rubbing little circles into the soft golden skin there with his thumbs, causing shivers to travel up. Their lips moved together in sync, and Donghyuck swore he could melt right then and there.

 

Donghyuck pulled Jaemin’s bottom lip with his teeth, nibbling on it until Jaemin squeezed Donghyuck’s waist. A gasp was ripped from him, and Jaemin took the opportunity to dive into his mouth. He licked all around his mouth, taking control of the kiss, but Donghyuck responded to everything with enthusiasm.

 

At least until Donghyuck is struck with the thought that as much as this is all he could ever want from a kiss with Jaemin, but something just wasn’t right. He pushed his hands gently against Jaemin’s chest, who easily stepped back, letting Donghyuck see the same conflict in his mind reflected in Jaemin’s eyes.

 

It’s not as if Jaemin wasn’t an all-around great guy who was extraordinarily attractive and an amazing kisser, but they just weren’t romantically attracted to each other, and it became more and more clear as they looked at each other.

 

“Something’s just…” Donghyuck sighed, leaning back against the wall.

 

“Not right?” Jaemin supplied, running a hand through his hair, not making eye contact with Donghyuck.

 

“I think we’re better off…”

 

“Just as friends.” Jaemin finished Donghyuck’s thought where he trailed off. Donghyuck stepped forward, wrapping his arms around Jaemin in a comforting hug, which the other quickly returned.

 

“I’m sorry about that.” Donghyuck said against Jaemin’s shoulder, his voice barely above a whisper.

 

“No, no, it’s fine. I think that we had to try.” Donghyuck could feel Jaemin’s smile against his temple.

 

“This won’t change anything, though?”

 

“Nah, I think that all friends who are roommates kiss each other at some point, right?” Jaemin laughed. Donghyuck smiled into his shoulder, wondering how he got so lucky as to end up with a friend like Jaemin. “Seperate rooms tonight, though?” His tone didn’t push in one way or the other, but there was a clear right option.

 

Donghyuck reluctantly nodded, letting go. “It’s probably for the best.” He started towards his room. “I’ll see you after my eight am art class tomorrow.”

 

“G’night, Hyuck.” Jaemin yawned.

 

“G’night, Jaem.” Donghyuck shot him a tired but content smile as he shuffled into his room and closed the door, sagging against it the moment it clicked shut. He realized he forgot to take off his shoes at the door, but wasn’t sure he was up to facing Jaemin again tonight. They both needed a little time to sort themselves out.

 

Leaving his shoes by the door of his room and his jean jacket haphazardly tossed over his desk chair, Donghyuck wiped his makeup off and slipped into sweatpants before crawling into bed. He let himself fall asleep before the worries about not having a date really sunk in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think that this is the shortest story out of all of the ones that i wrote, but they'll get longer and more in depth as the days progress.  
> and even though they have the shortest time "together" out of everyone, their dynamic was my favorite was my favorite one to write and incorporate into the stories  
> but don't worry if you think there hasn't been enough jaemin, because he will be appearing again for the next few stories!!  
> day 3 coming tomorrow in a new story with a new hyuck pairing.... who will it be??  
> __  
> come yell at me on my socials about anything <3
> 
>  
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/baridalive)  
> [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/baridalive)  
> [tumblr](https://baridalive.tumblr.com)

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me on my socials about anything <3
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/baridalive)   
>  [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/baridalive)   
>  [tumblr](https://baridalive.tumblr.com)


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